Many violinists or violists have often experienced pain or fatigue over their neck and/or shoulder area from playing their instruments. The contact of the hard wooden back of a violin/viola further aggravates the clavicle bone, especially after prolonged practice or play. Therefore, the introduction of a shoulder rest for supporting the violin/viola seems to be an effective solution to improve the player's comfort and providing good security of the instrument on the shoulder.
However, a number of virtuoso violinists/violists discourage the use of shoulder rest. One of the demerits they argue is that conventional shoulder rests may freeze the shoulder joint movement due to its inherent design, essentially restricting the freedom of movement of the violin on the shoulder, resulting in the loss of the necessary dynamic interactions between the violin, the bow and the player.
A conventional bridge-type shoulder rest may also hinder the smooth transmission of sound from the violin to the body of the user. In other shoulder rest designs, metal clamps are incorporated thereon for securing the violin which may also damage the violin body.